Shabti of Djehuty

Mummiform shabti wearing a plain tripartite wig. The face is particularly well carved for its type, with the eyes, nose, mouth and ears all clearly defined in the modelling. The posterior of the figure is defined, and the body of the figure tapers down towards the ankles and feet, the latter being quite naturalistic in their rendering. The body of the shabti has six vertical columns, in places overlapping each other, of hieratic inscription added in black. The owner is named as Djehuty, followed by a rather garbled version of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. A linen bandage is associated with the object but it might not originally be connected. The shabti is probably from the 1898–1899 excavations at Dra Abu el–Naga that were funded by the 5th Marquess of Northhampton, and led by Percy Newberry. Glenn Janes writes: "museum records state that this shabti belongs with shabtis 18.12.10.4 and coffin 18.12.10.2, but this grouping was most likely to have been assembled as such in modern times." Transliteration and translation of the inscription: sHD DHwty ir ip.tw n nb Hr? A mk wi kA.tn DHwty r kA.t rn? ir(y) f A t (?) Xnt n iAb.tt sx.t (r) smH.y wDb.w (i)m? m Xr.t-nTr m s ...?, "The illuminated one, Djehuty, if you are counted … ‘here I am’ when you call Djehuty, to do works … west … to ferry … fields, to irrigate the river banks, there in the realm of the dead …?"